I have been following the recent thread by Whystler on creating tiki pendants with 3D computer programs. I thought I could add a little to the discussion. About a year ago I had a thread about trying to create tiki designs for t-shirts. At that time many of the artist here like Wendy, Zerotiki, MaddogMike, and others encouraged and helped me in my attempts. I really love the step by step threads here (Wendy drives me crazy with her cool ceramic work. I wish I could still do that)

This image is of an assortment of tiki pendants I have made using one design. OK, they are not perfect tikis. It was my first try and I was experimenting with different designs to see how they would print up.
This thread may go a little slow …. I'm on dial-up and everything I do is in slow motion.

This is a free computer program called Sculptris. It is free and available online. It starts with a gray ball of digital clay. I'll show you some of the ways you can shape it.

Couple of things you do to start. On the right you will see a carved tiki I have grabbed an image of online. (I do that a lot for inspiration. You will see I don't come close to copying) This is done using another free program called Image Overlay which allows you to keep a reference image visible on top of Sculptris. The bottom white arrow points to the symmetry button. If you push that button all your work will be mirrored. (makes things easier) The top arrow points to Grab. With Grab you use a big brush and pull the ball into any shape you want. I often start with a log. That is what you are suppose to carve tikis from.

You can add clay to your model to create your design, but I prefer to mostly to carve because that is how it is supposed to be done. I push the draw button at the lower arrow. And, then I push the invert button at the upper arrow. This allows you to remove clay rather than add. Just start carving a general face look. Vary the size and strength sliders to vary the carving.You aren't going for detail at this point, just a general placing of features. Look at the example to get ideas. Notice, because of the symmetry button, all you have to do is work on one side and it is mirrored on the other.

Actually I find this to be much like carving wood. You dig in and then sand it. The sanding is done with the smooth button.

Check out the buttons in the lower left. You can move the model all around. Smoothing is easier if you zoom in. You can do these moves on the fly if you hold down the ALT key.

Used some more grab and smooth to try to define the face. Grab is a little bit of a cheat. As you can see the design is be altered greatly from where we started. It will be more defined as we go.

Well I got a surprise when I brought this up to read. Thank you very much.
This is very interesting. I've never done more than paint on Microsoft XP and it does nothing of value. This is terrific, Wendy
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Thanks for showing this! I couldn't have explained 3d sculpting better myself. The truth is, the process of carving clay with a variety of tools, or your fingers, is very similar to 3d sculpting *except* you don't feel the cool wetness of the clay, the push and release of pressure, the gradual increase in stiffness. But it's a lot less messy. I hope this is a PG13 site, after re-reading what I wrote ...

Wow...that is really kewl. Thanks for sharing the screenshots and steps in the process and the reference to free programs...things like that encourage other artists to try too...WHAT FUN!!!!
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On 2012-07-10 21:23, Gene S Morgan wrote:On the right you will see a carved tiki I have grabbed an image of online. (I do that a lot for inspiration. You will see I don't come close to copying)

I'm glad that my carvings inspire other artists to expand their horizons. As a graphics guy I really like new software and I've tried this - with no good results. Perhaps it is just a matter of practice - or perhaps I'm too old school, and prefer having the media of choice in my hands. I'm still waiting for the 3D wood carving software!

Thanks much Wendy ... Your work has always inspired me ... I bet you would be great at Sculptris ....

Clintiki ... thank you for your comments ... I live in Iowa ... far from the ocean but on the banks of the Mississippi.

Whystler ... Thanks but I'm not really a 3D guy. It was your thread that got me started on this thread. Thanks for that too. I didn't get the PG13 thing ... I'm a little slow sometimes. But it did make want to get some clay out.

VampiresRN ... Thanks ... I just wanted to give some folks some info and a little encouragement. I was surprised that folks checked it out. Computer stuff has never been very popular on Tiki Central.

AlohaStation ... Your carvings do inspire me. I wish I still could work in clay and wood.

I mentioned I had messed up a little. I don't want to be too technical here because I want this to be fun. I don't really know much about real 3D modeling programs, but there are some things it helps to know. This image is a zoom in with the W button pushed. W stands for wireframe. That is really what your image is made up of. Like I said I don't understand it either, but those little triangles are part of the wireframe. The smaller they are the more detail. I started out with too big of triangles, so there is some rough looking areas on the nose and the teeth. I'll fix that in the mix.

Hope you can see the detail a little better in this image. See how larger triangles make the nose look wrong.

More smoothing and grabbing and adding a little more detail and I'm done. Not the greatest tiki, but it is our first try …... I lied, we are not done. Time to switch software because we have to get our model ready to send somewhere and have it printed in 3D.

The program is called Meshmixer and it is also free online. Looks different don't it? There is a reason for that but I won't tell you because it would take all the fun out of this. (Too technical again) This program is not as much fun as Sculptris. I'm not going to go into much detail on how this stuff is done because I think it would bore you all. There are other 3D programs that can do this, but I find this one to be the most learnable, even though it's learning curve is no bump in the road either. I will give you hints on easier ways to do this later, but this is how I do it most often now.

This is all about selection. Notice how I now have the pendant turned sideways. It sure don't look much like a pendant now. Let's fix that. Under the select menu at the top left use either the paintbrush or the lasso to select the back of the pendant. It is now orange. In the modify menu as indicated by the arrow select smooth.

A blue line indicates a smoother boundary.

In the edit menu select Erase & Fill. Set the scale in the upper right as indicated by the arrow to zero. Hey, we got a pendant.

In the edit menu select extrude. In the upper right increase the offset. Wow, it's magic. Now he has a handle on top of his head. Or is it a hat? Select a round area on the handle. Turn the guy around and do the same on the back. In the edit menu select Bridge/Handle …..... Wait for it ….. more magic coming.

My handle's got a hole in it. (Wasn't that an old Hank Williams song?) We are going back to Sculptris now. When we go between these programs we have to export our stuff in an obj file. (You don't have to but it would be a good idea) Most 3D programs can read that format.

More smoothing and grabbing and adding a little detail and we have a tiki pendant. Not a great one, but this is only an example. Oh, it is a good idea to smooth the back real well to try to get it pretty flat. That will be important down the line.

A closer look at our guy.

This is me experimenting with color possibilities in Photoshop after taking a grab of the image.

It's back to Meshmixer. Time to send off our file to a an online 3D printer. I use Shapeways. In the print menu you can send it right off to them. You have to log in and chose a size. Give the file a name and shoot it off. Then go to their site and log in. Check your model area and your new model should show up. (sometimes it take a little while) You can see the cost of having it printed in different materials. If it cost too much go back and try again at a smaller size. We will talk about that later.

I also use Shapeways! It's a great service! To be honest, I haven't used it much since I got my own 3D printer, but there are definate pluses to using Shapeways, not the least of which is not having to own your own printer. Shapeways can print objects in various plastics, some of which are quite detail oriented, but also in stainless steel, silver, gold, glass, and even ceramic.

The downside to printing in ceramic, however, is the cost. Ceramic cost is based on the amount of surface area... I believe it is .18 per square cm. This doesn't seem like a lot, but a normal sized 7-8 inch tiki mug will cost you $250-$300.00 to print. The glaze colours are also limited to their selection, and they will not sell you greeware or bisqueware.

Printing in metal is likewise expensive, however, metal pieces such as jewelry can be small enough to make it cost effective. Metal cost is based on volume of material. I have rings on Shapeways that cost under $15.